Christmas Time
by Dancerslife
Summary: The time of year comes but once and it's Sharon Raydor's favorite holiday and season.


_It's the time of year when everyone's together we'll celebrate here on Christmas day  
when the ones you love are there you can feel the magic in the air - you know it's everywhere  
There's something about Christmas time something about Christmas time  
that makes you wish it was Christmas every day_

 _ **Christmas Day**_ **–** _ **Year 1**_

The thing about Christmas that filled Sharon Raydor with so much joy was the feeling of unity. Everyone, no matter how far she was, no matter how far the other members of her family were, they all got together for Christmas. Sharon grew into loving Christmas, her mother's love for the Holiday had been handed off to her.

It wasn't until her first time stuck in Los Angeles, on duty, patrolling the streets of Los Angeles that she realized how much she actually loved it. She made it a point on Christmas Eve to stop in a church, on duty or not, and get to a mass. The sermons about love, unity, respect, kindness, the attributes the birth of a child would bring, without fail filled her with pride.

Her first Christmas on the job she was shot at, shot, and spent the next week and a half in the hospital. The loud bangs to this day, no matter what from, still numbs her body to the core.

It was the reasoning behind her clutching her chest at the loud bang of the door that had her shooting upright in bed. Ricky, her darling Richard William who was enthralled by the magic of Christmas, came running into her bedroom with excitement.

"Santa came!" He exclaimed, leaping onto her bed, throwing her arms at his mother.

Emily quietly, slowly, sleepily followed. No doubt Ricky had woken her up with the same out of excitement before rushing out and into his mother's bedroom.

Sharon glanced at the clock – it was a quarter to seven. She groaned and laid back, taking Ricky with her, seeing as her arms were still wrapped around the boy.

"Next year sir," Sharon mumbled out into the room. "We're waiting until eight."

"But mom," he whined. "It's Santa."

"I'm aware," she nodded, pressing her lips to the boy's crown. "You waited all night, an hour or so more won't hurt you."

She felt the bed dip next to her. She opened her eyes and saw Emily had curled herself up on the opposite side. Sharon reached out and brushed the dark hair away from her daughter's eyes. Emily smiled and opened her eyes, the green of them dark.

For just a moment, a brief moment, both of her kids curled up with her on her bed. It was a rarity – most times she did the waking, rushing everyone through the shower and baths if they weren't done the night before. The weekends didn't allow them to curl up together either. More often than not she was at the office, especially if she found herself in a reporting cycle. It was because of those that she missed a recital here and a soccer practice there.

At the ages of five and eight her children were still young, young but impressionable.

"Okay," Sharon said, patting Ricky's bag. "Let's go see what Santa brought."

With as much excitement as he came in, Ricky jumped up and ran out the door, stumbling and nearly catching himself on the door frame. Emily stayed in bed, her eyes closed and her body lax. Sharon laid back down for only a moment, knowing Ricky would soon be in, hurrying them up.

"Rumor has it there might be a pair of dance shoes under that tree," Sharon muttered low in her daughter's ear.

A soft gasp from Emily had the girl rising from the bed, taking off down the hallway with as much gusto as her brother.

It was tight year, financially and emotionally. It was the first year without Jack. It was the first year Sharon did a lot of the things on her own. Officially separated meant so much more than she ever imagined.

Nonetheless, her children would open the presents, she'd make them breakfast and Jack would be over around ten or eleven to pick them up. She'd head into work and pray that no officers needed Internal Affairs in the last forty-eight hours. If only she was that lucky.

 _ **Christmas Day, Year 3**_

Sharon held her breath as she felt the clock tick eight. The baby monitor was on and she could hear Ricky quietly talking to the baby. Only he wasn't so much a baby anymore. It was just the other day that the boy had been trying to escape from the confines of his crib. Higher the bars went and Rusty didn't like it.

Rusty, the poor boy who was put into emergency foster care because his mother left him abandoned at the LA Zoo and was found roaming the parking lot crying. Rusty, the poor kid who had taken to no one but Sharon and cried when anyone else tried to take him. Rusty, the poor kid who spent the better part of Christmas Eve last night in the emergency room for a fever and a stomach virus.

Thankfully, she had someone to watch her children so they didn't have to get carried across the town to sit and have their Christmas ruined. It was the same man who she sent home after finding him passed out on her couch when she got home and the same man who should be showing up any moment now to wish her children a Merry Christmas – he promised.

It was two years now that she had been introduced to one very problematic Andrew Flynn. He was in her office that Christmas morning, reeking of alcohol, having had gotten into a bar fight the night before with a civilian and a few others. His name had been tossed around here and there, she knew of him, she didn't know him. She had issued a seven-day suspension, a mandatory psych eval, and a mandatory detox program followed up by AA sessions. Either too drunk to process or understanding of the sentence, the man up and left. Only to return two days later anger dripping from every word out of his mouth.

How she said yes to going out to dinner with him she didn't know. How she said yes to spending time with him outside of work she didn't know. But she did. Something about his charm, perhaps.

Quietly, knowingly, the door opened and Sharon heard the fussy baby clear as day. Not muted or distorted by the radio. She opened her eyes and saw Ricky holding Rusty.

"Santa came," Ricky said quietly. "There's so many presents.'

Sharon smiled. She forced herself not to smile sadly. It was the first full year without Jack. No calls, no letters, no visits – nothing. Sharon was sure he was in Las Vegas. That was the last correspondence and when she called the place he was staying at, they confirmed he was still there. For her kids that's all she needed to know. Just that he was alive.

Sharon sat up and took Rusty. A soft whine escaping the boy as he curled up against Sharon's chest. She pressed her lips to his blonde curls and rubbed his back. He was due for another dose of medication. He wasn't going to like that.

"Where's-?"

On cue Emily came through the door, her hair piled up on her head, her fingers in her eyes, brushing the sleep out of them. She sat at the corner of the bed with her leg curled under her.

"Morning," Sharon laughed.

Emily waved haphazardly. Like her father she slept like the dead. Waking her up early, before she was ready resulted in a mute child.

A knock sounded through the apartment and she grinned. She knew it was Andy even though she had just sent him home a few hours ago. She would have let him sleep there, with her, in the bed, but with the recent departure of Jack and Rusty being sick – the confusion and questions that would have come from her children she didn't want to deal with.

She was coming around the corner of the hallway when she heard Rusty yell.

"Andy!"

The man in question held up a big bag of presents – his own children were out of country, in Europe with their mother spending the holidays in Italy. Sharon beamed at him as he dropped the bag by the couch and picked up Ricky with an arm, successfully flipping the boy over. Once he set Ricky back down on his feet, Andy reached for Emily and she waved her hands, using the couch as a barrier. Sharon knew, later, Andy would get her when the girl least suspected it.

A hand to his back had Andy turning around. At the sight of Andy, Rusty reached out and Andy took him with ease. The boy liked Andy – saw enough of him when he went with Sharon to work if there wasn't a baby sitter available. Andy raised an eyebrow and she shrugged. As of late, because he was under the weather he wanted no one but Mom.

"Okay," Sharon said, to her waiting children. "Go open presents."

Both kids made a beeline for the tree, knowing it was one present at a time and they had to take their time. She would make them breakfast, the kids would shower, and they'd head to church. She hadn't been able to the night before even though she was tempted to go sit in the chapel at the hospital. It wasn't the same.

"Merry Christmas," a voice later in the day said behind her. She grinned at the man who stood behind her.

It really was a merry one.

 _ **Christmas Day, Year 10**_

Sharon woke to the soft sounds of her children bickering at the foot of her bed. If she opened her eyes she would see the time. It would be a few minutes before eight and her children were doing what they could _not_ to wake up the parental unit as Emily so eloquently called them. The children knew the rules - Sharon had told Ricky that one year and the following he thought it was a joke. Sharon sent him back to his room and told him to wait until _she_ got him. It was 8:15 when she finally came in and told him tha _t_ Santa had in fact came and no he hadn't come back and took the presents away.

A few years back Rusty tried to pull the same stunt, come in early, declare he was the favorite and they'd get to open presents early. He was sent back to his room and was told to talk to his brother. Never again did they try to push the eight a.m. rule.

The arm snug around her waist was the only indication that the other half of the parental team was awake. His thumb brushed her stomach and she turned. At the motion all three of her children held their breaths, not wanting to be caught. Her hand came to her partner's chest as she readjusted her head on his shoulder.

"Do you think we should return Ricky's computer?" Sharon asked, full well knowing her children were in the room and listening. "Or Emily's pointe shoes?"

"The pointe shoes probably," Andy agreed. "The lady did say we could bring them back if they didn't fit."

Sharon hummed and nodded. "What about Rusty's chess board? I don't think he'll have time to use it."

"With school?" Andy asked. "Probably not."

There was a moment of silence, the clock getting ready to tick to 8 and before the children could run and not get caught –

"Hold it," Sharon ordered.

The alarm went off, she rolled back over and turned it off, opening her eyes to see her children, standing in oldest to youngest, looking chastised and caught.

It was just a few hours ago that Sharon had crawled into bed after wrapping her children's presents. The nice thing about having Andy in the house was an extra space to keep things – his old place. The place his children and ex-wife stay at time to time or when they have company. Sharon learned a long time ago not to keep things in the apartment – her children always had a way of finding things.

"Morning," she grinned at her children. "Feeling festive this morning?"

"Anxious," Emily supplied.

"Excited," Ricky went on.

"I blame them," Rusty blamed, pointing at his siblings.

Sharon laughed and shook her head. "Go. We'll be out in a minute."

All three children left the room and left their mother alone.

Andy sleepily sat up, running a hand to the back of his head, knowingly smoothing it down. His silver band caught the light and it made Sharon grin. She had a matching one. It was recent, a few months old, but she still felt good about it.

There was no need to get married. No real want. It was a matter of convenience really. Business matters, personal matters, health relations; it was just smart to get married, to ensure a few things wouldn't change.

"Do you think they bought it?" Andy asked.

"Let's go find out."

It was items they didn't ask for that Sharon bought them. Throughout the year, Ricky would be able to get a bike, probably for his birthday – he'd be able to ride it along the pier during the summer. Rusty would be able to get his electronic whatever device he was so adamant about getting and Emily was able to get her pointe shoes whenever, which was why she asked for regular dance shoes.

They would eat breakfast together and later they would meet with Andy's children and ex wife and attend mass. It had become somewhat of a tradition. She loved tradition.

 _ **Christmas Day Year 2015**_

The thing about Christmas that filled Sharon Flynn with so much joy was the feeling of unity. Everyone, no matter how far she was, no matter how far the other members of her family were, they all got together for Christmas. Sharon grew into loving Christmas, her mother's love for the Holiday had been handed off to her.

Sharon was still picking up the wrapping paper that had been left around her apartment. First it was the morning with her children, then the afternoon with her step son, then later with her step-daughter and the grandchildren. It was nearing eight o'clock, Rusty in his bedroom, content and happy with the gifts he had received – a new camera set up for his vlog, a new computer to process everything a little quicker, and a new journal for notes.

Stopping, Sharon looked up at her Christmas tree, stuck in it's usual corner, decorated with lights and ornaments. She grinned up at it, the smile widening as the pair of arms circled her waist.

It had been a year. First with the escape of Stroh – a man her son had seen attempting to bury bodies while he was on a date with – Rusty had run away a few years back, giving not only Sharon a heart attack but Andy and the rest of the division. He had placed a call to 911, reporting Stroh and a patrol unit had picked him up. He was brought home battered, bloody, and half naked in the middle of the night. Rusty had been involved in something's that would have got him thrown in juvenile hall – community service was granted instead. Grounded under the roof of Sharon Raydor made the service easy.

Second with Andy and his health concerns – she spent many sleepless nights in the hospital and at home worrying about him. Grateful he was brought back in one piece; she couldn't help wonder _what if?_

The lights on the tree flickered as they always did. The ornaments rested on the limbs of the tree. Everything would be taken down in a few days – slowly, methodically, with care and concern. But now she stood in the shadow of her tree, surrounded by her husband, knowing that the next year was going to be just as wonderful, if not better. What would remain the same was the love Sharon had for the holiday. It filled her with warmth, happiness, and just enough yule tide to hold her until the next year.

* * *

 _Read and review, love it or hate it I want to know. It wasn't beta'd, I wrote it quickly this morning._

 _Happy Holidays to my followers and friends who read! I hope you all have a fantastic season. Stay tuned for a New Years Eve follow up._


End file.
